Advice for Poets, Advice for Killers

William Maynard of the Bates agency once wrote that “… most good copywriters fall into two categories. Poets. And killers. Poets see an ad as an end. Killers as a means to an end.”

And David Ogilvy famously added,”If you are both killer and poet, you get rich.”

We’ve talked before about the Killer and the Poet — and how you can learn to boost the qualities you might be lacking.

In today’s 21-minute episode, I talk about:

  • Why it’s so useful to have that mix of killer and poet in our content
  • The key difference between persuasion that works today and the copy from traditional direct response
  • The specific “tricks of the trade” to look for when you’re reading writing books

The Show Notes

  • If you’re ready to see for yourself why more than 201,344 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — swing by StudioPress.com for all the details.
  • Copyblogger’s Certified Content Marketer training is a powerful program that helps writers attract better clients — and more of them. New students will be able to sign up for a limited time soon. Add your name to join the waitlist and to get all of the details when they’re available.
  • Whatever you want to work on in your writing, you’ll probably find a good reference on our summer reading list of writing books over on Copyblogger
  • My earlier podcast with additional thoughts on Killers and Poets
  • My Copyblogger post on The Killer and the Poet
  • Joanna Wiebe and Lance Jones’ site Copy Hackers has lots of terrific resources to improve your Killer abilities
  • Bob Bly’s Copywriter’s Handbook is a solid choice for fundamental copywriting techniques

And, of course, I’m always happy to see your questions or thoughts on Twitter @soniasimone — or right here in the comments!